Packages having a container in the form of a can with a “peel-off” lid having round or non-round removal openings beneath the peel-off lid are known. Usually, such packages or cans with a peel-off lid having a large diameter (typically 99 mm or more) are used for dry products, such as e.g. baby milk powder. A plastic spoon that is used to scoop the powder is added to most containers after the milk powder has filled into the container. Thus, once the package or can has been opened by peeling off the peel-off film of the peel-off lid, a spoon is available to the user and may be used for metering or dosing, respectively, the amount of filling material removed from the container. An additional lid, made of plastic, which is placed over the peel-off lid, is used in a known manner for reclosing the container until the next use.
One problem that occurs when scooping the powder is controlling or dosing, respectively, of the amount removed from the container. There are two main reasons for removing and dosing the quantity of powder as precisely as possible. The primary reason relates to health. The infant is to be given a precise quantity of milk powder. Not too much, and not too little. A second reason, which is more incidental than the first reason, is the price of cans of milk powder. It is especially in developing countries very high. Therefore the consumer has a reason for removing only the precise amount of milk powder. The can manufacturers try to provide a solution that makes it possible to meter or dose precisely. There are solutions that attempt to solve the dosing solely by the design of the dosing spoon and to create milk powder spoons with integrated leveling bars. However, industrial implementation of these solutions has not yet begun, since the manufacturing costs for the spoon are too high.
One solution the metal packaging industry propagates today is to integrate the leveling function for the spoon into the lid. Consequently, lids today are produced such that it is possible to scrape the spoon and thus level off its contents. This ensures that the amount of powder in the spoon is always the same. Such peel-off lids made of tin plate have an opening that is in the shape of a “D,” instead of being round. That is, the opening of the lid remains largely round, but is closed off by a straight edge. The length of this edge may vary.
The great advantage of the so-called D-shape peel-off lids is that the leveling bar is integrated in the lid. The user can use the leveling bar immediately, as soon as the peel-off film has been removed from the container and the spoon has been taken out of the milk powder. The leveling function is self-explanatory.
However, the disadvantage of the D-shape peel-off lid is found in its production process. The non-round form of the opening requires non-round tools for punching out the opening and then for shaping the edge. In addition, the lid must be laboriously re-oriented after each work step so that it is not damaged in the next operation.
Another disadvantage is the fact that, as a rule, a filling company that fills the container with the powder product does not sell only lids having a D-shape opening. Some of the lids are produced with a conventional round opening. This means that two sets of tools must be purchased and maintained for production. In addition, there are time-consuming tool changes when the shape of the opening has to be changed.
It is known from WO 2008/041808 to provide a separate part as a leveling bar, wherein this part may be positioned at different heights on the interior can surface. This solution appears very complex and also complicated to handle.